Well, Ellsworth Vines was a champion tennis player, retired at 28 and 7 months, took up golf professionally, and won some tournaments, and finished top 15 in the money a couple years.

So it is not unprecedented.

There are a few things that come to mind that could make things difficult for Rafa to take on a golfing career:

- Did that Ellsworth Vines guy have a ginormous ass? Looks like that could be a disadvantage for Rafa balance and mechanic wise.

- Rafa would have to tone down the jumping all around after a good put since it could damage the greens. Other players would not be pleased if the greens were left in bad condition after a Rafa birdie...

- Golf also tends to be played on actual grass and not green clay like Wimbledon in the second week. We know Rafa is vulnerable during the first week because tennis is played on actual grass conditions...

- With all the water hazards on golf course, would Nadal be distracted and actually think about sea bass fishing instead of golfing?

- How would he manage his water bottles?

- Never saw a golf player chronically butt picking, he might be ostracized.

I am sure there are other valid reasons why it might be difficult for Rafa to switch to golf. He's no Clara Hughes after all...

Can't happen in this realm, and we have yet to be able to travel to parallel dimensions. You will wait in vain for that to happen.

Yes, Nadal talked about injury when he lost in AO 2008; Wim 2007; Wimb 2006; US Open 2011; Aus Open 2012 - not to mention many Masters Series losses. It's a myth that he's always injured. It's also true he's more injured than Novak and Fed etc. How much time has Fed ever had to take off? Not much. The direct comparison makes Nadal seem permanently injured and frankly it's not something that he can be blamed for.

As for being hammered by Novak - losses which involve final set tiebreaks cannot be hammerings. Wimbledon final was the only one that was really one sided - the rest had Novak with the upper hand but nothing like a hammering - still had tough games an sets lost with one break in the main.

On topic, hope he makes it to WTF. Golf is fine but he'll have time when he's past 30 to play it - too early to make the switch yet!

Report that there's a possibility Nadal may choose to play some of the South American clay court tournaments next year - if he doesn't play at all this year that would be a good place to pick up some points and help ease the ranking pressure a bit - should easily win a 500 and 250 in Acapulco and Buenos Aires - that's better than a Masters final appearance... Then again, seems more than a little speculative. Frankly think doing that and only playing one HC Masters - i.e. Miami is a better choice:

Quote:

Spanish media reported over the weekend that Nadal could go away from the circuit until 2013. "There is nothing definite can not say that," sources told DPA environment ex world number one. But the truth is that your knees hurt more left-to-right, and Nadal wants to keep playing for a long time yet. "My enthusiasm and focus will be extended as much as possible my career and the illusion of being in Rio 2016. I will work for it, "said 26-year tennis soon after quit the U.S. Open.

That opens the possibility of having the Spanish in the early 2013 tournaments for years were relegated in their calendar, as Acapulco or Buenos Aires, whose clay is a surface much less aggressive than the cement-Rotterdam and Dubai events that favored Nadal in recent years for battered knees of the player. "We'd love to have Nadal, that's a no-brainer. We have shown an interest at the time, but it depends entirely on us, much less, that Nadal comes. Next year we celebrate our twentieth anniversary, it would be a great occasion, "said Raul Zurutuza, Acapulco tournament director, that Spanish-last played as Buenos Aires in 2005.

"We receive proposals tournaments all the time, but there is nothing definite," dpa assured sources close to Nadal, the Monday after the end of Acapulco, which is played on Saturday, has scheduled an exhibition with Juan Martin del Potro at Madison Square Garden in New York.